Browse Items (57 total)

Shaaban Robert is credited with introducing the essay (insha) into Swahili Literature.

Kusadikika is the name of an imaginary country, based on the Swahili verb kusadiki (to believe). It is a satire on greed and the abuse of power that speaks for the common people who are not allowed to question anything but are only expected to…

This work is the second installment of Robert’s autobiography, although it remains to this day the first to be published. He once wrote an autobiographical essay about his childhood and youth to the time of his marriage in 1936, but it has never…

Newspapers served as an important literary forum for the publication of both Swahili poetry and works of prose. During the 1930’s and 1940’s, the Swahili newspaper, "Mambo Leo" [Current Affairs], served this purpose for many aspiring young Swahili…

In his last novels, such as the two above written shortly before his death in 1962, Robert became more reformist in principle and critical of his times. Utubora mkulima is an attack on capitalist society and its evils. Perhaps as a sequel in this…

Swahili poetry prior to the twentieth century was written in ajami script that was adapted from Arabic. Many examples of this script have been preserved in manuscript form, as illustrated by the reproduction of the poem shown left, Utumbuizo wa…

This play confronts the theme of the place of religion in the modern world. The playwright presents the view that religion has lost its role in contemporary society, having been replaced by science and politics.

Call Number: PL8704.T6 A65 1973

A historical novel dealing with ethnic violence in Kenya in the early 1990’s. Two friends of different ethnic groups find themselves involved in a tribal conflict against their will and struggle to preserve their friendship.

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